But farmers can find it difficult to make a profit from the local mangoes, which are often small and poor quality.

The trees fruit at the same time of year, so many farmers sell all their mangoes at market at the same time, resulting in lower prices and wastage – with many unsold mangoes left to rot.

Mountains of mangoes

Funded by our innovative Maendeleo Agricultural Enterprise Fund, we helped women farmers in Kitui increase their incomes by:

• providing better-quality mango stocks that ripen and fruit at different times of year
• encouraging farmers to form associations so they could sell collectively and receive higher prices at market
• investing in a mango juice plant
• establishing links with fruit-processing companies.

Who did we work with?

The project was carried out in partnership with a local NGO, Kitui Development Centre.